This is it!

The front page of the website had been counting down for several days.  Finally, on Wednesday 21st March 2012, the message changed to  'This is it!"   'This' referred to the day of the launch event, which was held at St Paul's Church, Blandford Road.  Over fifty guests joined author Mike Neighbour at an informal evening.  This was no dry gathering of academics, but a bringing together of people who expressed their fascination for local history through animated conversation, even though some had not met each other before.

During the evening Mike Neighbour gave a presentation on the development of Project SAOEE – the seven-year-long research which had made the book St Albans' Own East End possible.  Given that much had been gleaned from the Herts Advertiser, and that the newspaper gained from several hundred mentions in the book, its absence from the evening was widely noted.  However, Mike used part of his presentation to acknowledge the key role of local newspapers in recording the events of the community.

Until this point no-one had even spotted a copy of the book; but at the conclusion of the presentation Mike unveiled, first, an open copy set in splendid isolation on a burgundy-coloured cushion – burgundy is the key colour used in the book.  Then, with a flourish, off came the wraps hiding the piles of books pre-purchased by dozens of subscribers.  Theirs was a special, cloth-covered edition with dust jacket, and the author had also autographed the title page in advance.

The ordinary retail edition was also represented: hardback laminated covers with silky smooth pages, shining bright white against the burgundy table covering on which they were sitting.

Guests were, most of all, surprised at the sheer scale of the work.  The base facts 'hardback, A4, 368 pages' does not prepare the reader for the glorious volume of the work.  But it is only when the cover is turned and the inside glimpsed, that the wonder of the book is revealed.  Every open page is busy and the eyes and brain engage to explore the detail.  Between the text are photographs and coloured panels telling details of objects, special stories, and dateline events.

All over the room people were comparing their copies as they took in the measure of the purchase they had made.

It was not until the following day that the same open book was presented to the world on the front page of the website; and not until March 23rd, official publication day, that copies were dispatched via the local post office to others, or delivered by hand to those in the city.  How many other books get personally delivered by their authors?

And when did such an event last happen in St Albans?  Truly a red letter day.